Sulligent Cotton Oil Company - Pulpwood Yard - Kentucky Lumber Company - Sulligent, AL

Discussion in 'General' started by trainchaser007 (Brandon Adams RIP 9/22/2017), Oct 12, 2011.

  1. trainchaser007 (Brandon Adams RIP 9/22/2017)

    trainchaser007 (Brandon Adams RIP 9/22/2017) Passed away September 22, 2017

    Attached are some pictures of the Sulligent Cotton Oil Company building. The local cotton boom caved in long before my time. By my time, most of the structures in the black and white photographs were gone.

    There is a water tower pictured that is still standing. I don't really know what it was used for, I assume water, but as far as I know it hasn't been used since at least the early 1980s. I recently saw a very similar HO water tower for sell on Walther's website. Hmm?

    I plan on modeling the larger part of the building soon. I already have Walthers cornerstone brick sheets and some corrugated plastic sheets for the roof. Any info on anything in the pictures or about Frisco rail service for a cotton oil business would be appreciated.

    In the late 1980s there was a pulpwood yard with spur between the cotton oil building and the water tower. The local pulpwood yards bit the dust about 20 years ago but the spur remains. Sometimes BNSF uses it to park work trains and MOW vehicles overnight.

    In the mid-late 1980s, the BN local would arrive about lunch time M-F to pick up pulpwood and leave empties. I was 10-12 years old. Those are my fondest railfan memories, 2nd only to the Frisco 1522 coming through in 1994.

    One of the older black and white photos shows lumber. I'm not sure if the lumber in the photo is related, but at one time Sulligent was also home to the Kentucky Lumber Company. Heisler built a coal-burning, two-truck geared locomotive in 1923-24 for the Kentucky Lumber Co., KLC No 9.

    I went to see it in 2010 at the Southeastern Railway Museum in Duluth, GA. I took the family 6 hours one-way to Six Flags over Georgia plus 2 nights hotel expense just to see a locomotive that was once used in my hometown. I'm curious if the KLC operated their Heislers on the Frisco or if they were operated only on temporary logging railroads.

    The Birmingham sub parallels the Buttahatchee River bottom and Beaver Creek bottom for about 25 miles through the area. I recall reading that the KLC logged the "bottom" by rail. As soon as they were done "skinning the land," they rolled up their business and left many local men unemployed.

    There was a narrow gauge line about 15 miles north of Sulligent. The roadbed is now Dinky Line Rd. My uncle lived up there. When I was a kid, he used to take me "spike hunting." Looking back, I think he had already found most of the spikes and threw a few out before I arrived so I could "find" them.

    Well, I guess I've put everyone to sleep with another trip down memory lane.

    Until the next time, Ship It On The Frisco!
     
    Last edited by a moderator: Jan 12, 2024
  2. trainchaser007 (Brandon Adams RIP 9/22/2017)

    trainchaser007 (Brandon Adams RIP 9/22/2017) Passed away September 22, 2017

  3. renapper (Richard Napper RIP 3/8/2013)

    renapper (Richard Napper RIP 3/8/2013) Passed away March 8, 2013

    I would like to credit these photos to you, what is your real name?
     
  4. trainchaser007 (Brandon Adams RIP 9/22/2017)

    trainchaser007 (Brandon Adams RIP 9/22/2017) Passed away September 22, 2017

    Brandon Adams.

    I can't take credit for the black and white. It's hanging in a diner in Sulligent. I don't know who took the that photo. Perhaps I shouldn't have posted it here but I'm pretty sure anyone who took that wouldn't mind. I thought it was cool to post a pic of the business during it's prime and during the Frisco era. The date is anyone's guess.

    If it needs to be removed, let me know.
     
    Last edited by a moderator: Jan 12, 2024
  5. trainchaser007 (Brandon Adams RIP 9/22/2017)

    trainchaser007 (Brandon Adams RIP 9/22/2017) Passed away September 22, 2017

    I remember a metal building in Sulligent, AL that I would like to model if I could find pictures. It was built on what is still railroad property (the property is for sale of course). It was build on a slab (probably boxcar floor height) and had two sidings: one that ran along, right up against the track side of the building, and another in between that siding and the mainline. Although the second siding has been removed, the switch for it is still in place on the first siding. Here's a facebook post from the last owner of the building (while it was on railroad property). She happens to be a distant relative of mine.

    "My Daddy Cooper Thompson (1933-1991) did own the building when he died. He owned the building but the land was owned by Burlington Northern Railroad. He leased the land from the RR. He had coin-operated game machines & pool tables in it (A Game Room), as you know that was his business. When he died, I inherited the building, & continued to operate the game room for a few years. After I closed the game room, I rented the building to a Mr. Boyett (Can't remember his first name), & he worked on restoring old cars there. After that, I sold the building and terminated my land lease with the RR & required the new owner of the building to disassemble & remove it. As far as I know, the land is still owned by the RR, now merged with Santa Fe line now I believe. I don't know of any pics I have of the building... Daddy had no use for the side track, it was already there when he bought the building. I believe the original owner was Purina Feeds & they had silos there long time before Daddy bought it. He bought it from an individual, not Purina."

    My aunt said she also remembers Purina Feeds and the silos. Does anyone know of any record(s) of the Frisco servicing Purina Feeds at Sulligent? I would like to know if Purina was the original occupant? More specifically, I want to know, if not Purina, what business would have built there that needed sidings to ship and/or receive via the railroad.
    Building 2.JPG Building.JPG
     
    Ozarktraveler likes this.
  6. gbnf

    gbnf Member

    "Cottonseed was garbage in 1860, fertilizer in 1870, cattle feed in 1880 and 'table food and many things else in 1890'." By 1900, cottonseed oil production was the 9th largest industry in Alabama. Cotton industries survived the Depression better than most, and cotton production boomed during WW2, as nitrocellulose made from cotton linters was used in gunpowder and explosives.

    Cotton bales and bagged seed were shipped in boxcars, bulk in covered hoppers
    Cotton seed meal used as animal feed was bagged in boxcars, bulk in covered hoppers
    Cotton seed hulls for animal feed filler and landscaping material was shipped bulk in boxcars equipped with grain doors
    Cotton seed oil in tank cars

    General desciption of the cottonseed industry at Texas State Historical Association:

    https://tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/drc04

    There is a thread on the industry at Model Railroader

    http://cs.trains.com/mrr/f/13/t/204847.aspx

    Included is an image (model) showing cotton bales being shipped by boxcar.

    The January 1911 "Frisco Man" magazine, page 16, shows cotton bales at the Sulligent cotton platform for rail shipment. (Quote) "Agent W. S. Springfield advises that they have moved about 3,000 bales this season and espects that as many more will be moved."

    A similar story is in the February 1914 issue, also page 16. (Quote) "they have shipped over seven thousand bales of cotton recently and have about one thousand more to move" (photo attached)

    If you search cottonseed at the Springfield library site, you will get more articles, although not Sulligent specific.

    http://thelibrary.org/lochist/frisco/magazines/magazines.cfm

    CottonPlatformSulligentAL.jpg
     
    Last edited: Mar 15, 2016
  7. trainchaser007 (Brandon Adams RIP 9/22/2017)

    trainchaser007 (Brandon Adams RIP 9/22/2017) Passed away September 22, 2017

    Thank you, George, for the links to the images. I shared them on my facebook so that others in my area could enjoy the local railroad/cotton history.
    As for the former building I recently inquired about, my dad said,
    "The empty slab of concrete is the remains of a business known as Tri-County Farm Supply, owned and operated by Mr. Kenneth Betts back in the late 60's, early 70's. While employed with WVSA, I wrote and taped radio commercials for Tri-County Farm Supply of Sulligent, 'your Purina Dealer.'
    One of their managers is still around. I plan on contacting him to find out if TCFS used the railroad for shipping and/or receiving.
     
    Last edited: Mar 14, 2016
  8. gbnf

    gbnf Member

    Thank you for your comments. If you do incorporate the cotton industry into your railroad, I hope you will share what you learn and how you model it. It's something that deserves more attention, and has important roots in the south. You will get much more satisfaction if your layout reflects your unique memories and experiences, rather than common generic themes and kits. I enjoy reading your posts.
     

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